This is a story about a courageous young woman named Amy Cloutier. She was nominated by her mother:
"My daughter Amy Cloutier is a hero! She works tirelessly to help with the heroin crisis in our state. She is a recovering addict,clean 4 1/2 yards clean, she has a job with rise above process of recovery. She helps get people in rehab and gets them into Sober living facilities. She speaks at the Farnum center and many community outreach centers. She is a fighter and a survivor! It has not been an easy road for her,and she has lost many friends to this disease! But she has saved many lives and gives addicts and their families hope for a future ! I love her and she is my hero!"
Amy reached out to me to tell me her story so that I could share it with all of you. She hopes that it can help, even if it only helps one person. Here is Amy's story:
"I started drinking and partying in high school very heavily. I was in a car accident in 2005 and was prescribed oxy at the age of 19. I found out very quickly how to get them on the street when my prescriptions ran out. By the time I was 21 I found heroin and realized it was cheaper and easier to access.
The next 5 years of my life was a very fast downward spiral of jails, mental hospitals and treatment centers in and out for years not knowing there was a way to live drug free. Many days I thought I would be better off if I just died. The pain I was causing myself and my family was unbearable. I was introduced to a 12 step program along with the birth of my son and I finally found a way out of the turmoil I had been living in for so many years.
Today my life is filled with so much joy being able to shed light on such a dark time for our community. I chose to dedicate my time to helping woman and men see there is freedom from addiction. Today I am a mother, a daughter,and a friend I am no longer a drug addict living on the street waiting for my next fix. I am a woman in recovery that holds her hand out to anyone looking for help.
I work for 2 local company's in NH Rise Above sober living and The Process Recovery Center both dedicated to helping the disease of addiction. I just want to end with saying if you are struggling with addiction there is a way out. I spent so many years thinking I was hopeless and would never have a normal life. Today I look back at those times and realize I went through it all to be able to help someone else I am grateful to be in recovery and my life is a gift and it is possible for everyone!"
We know the epidemic statistics and we know that NH is ranked next to last in the country for treatment options. What we don't often see is that there are people out there who were able to get the help that they so desperately needed. There are people who want to get help, want to get clean, and want to live their lives without needed drugs. We don't often hear about these people on the news because the media feels that "if it bleeds it leads" and happy stories generally are not compelling enough for their ratings. It is a sad truth in today's media.
Thank you Amy for sharing your story and showing everyone out there that there is hope and there is a chance for recovery if you want it.
If you need help or know someone who does here are some resources that may help:
The Process Recovery Center: 0 Kinsley St, Nashua, NH 03060, Phone:(603) 267-4212
NH Rise Above: http://www.time2riseabove.com/#!about_us/csgz
Hope for NH: www.hopefornhrecovery.org
Photo received from Amy Cloutier
At least once per week I want to do a spotlight on a hero in our community. Someone who goes above and beyond to help others and makes a difference in our community. Send me a message about someone who you think is a hero and some stories about them!! With all of the negativity it would be nice to be able to share something positive.
We have a beautiful city with amazing people in it but the news only shares the bad stories for the most part. Let's change that!!
Amy thank you so much for all that u do and saving my life I'm so grateful to have u and rise above
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Amy, not just for sharing your story,but for the courage that it takes to continue your outreach for others. This World offers some tough roads..God Bless you
ReplyDeleteAmy I don't hear from you much anymore but you are what I needed when I left farnum. You are an inspiration! Now let's help the individuals who have committed crimes during the time that they used to get decent jobs and give them that second chance at life.
ReplyDeleteAmy: Thank you so much for sharing your story. It takes guts and Faith. My grown son overdosed on heroin and was revived. Thank God. I never thought I'd be one of "those" parents to get narcan for him, but I did....Although he doesn't live with me and the narcan was given to his father, I have not heared of it being used,,since son's O.D. Christmas Eve., but I guess no news is good news. I still worry constantly when the phone rings, but it is out of my hands. Thank you and God Bless You, Susan (a worried mother)
ReplyDeleteOne of the owners of Rise Above finally reached out to me tonight and we actually have a cooperative agreement in place and I am hoping we have a successful partnership not in business just in life to helping to save lives. I will leave that him and I may be in the same sort of mindset however due to circumstances beyond his control and my control we had been unable to meet. Please stay tuned to see how this turns out I am hoping it turns out in every attidcts' best interest . Christopher Dinicola and I hopefully can work together with mutual dedication and respect!!! Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteNicely done Amy!! You are a power of example to women (and men)everywhere that addiction is a needless hostage situation that can be arrested One Day At A Time. Thanks for your service and call anytime for anything. Love you...Deb H.
ReplyDeleteAmy, you have been instrumental in keeping my best friend living a life worth living. I really thought at one point that she was gone and that the addict was all that was left. I can't thank you enough for the gifts your work gives to me and to so many like me who suffer the grief of the living death that heroin brings to the addict and all who love them.
ReplyDeleteI love you!...always will...extremely proud and happy for you:)~lauren~
ReplyDeletegreat story!
ReplyDeleteAmy, such a powerful message that has gotten sent out to so many of us out their. I am sure your story even impacts those with whom have never even picked up a harmful substance of choice before. This disease sucks. I have it now, I caught this bug that so many people around me thought and or felt that I was never going to catch, in the first place. Because a whole lot of people knew of a lot of the stuff that I myself and my siblings had to go through when we were younger. I am 23 years old, right now and at this day and age, by the way. We all had to be witness of two alcoholic parents (yeah, I know. Not just one of them, but the BOTH of my Mom and my Dad). Day in and day out of seeing the toxic waste of a beautiful relationship between your own two people with whom are essentially the only ones with whom initially brought you into this world, and created you. Sad to say this next part... but it is nothing but the truth, as painful as it is -- my beautiful and adoring and genuine soul of a Mother, died back in October of The Year of 2009 -- from what a lot of
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